Haplotype analysis revealed no association between the PTPN22 gene and RA in a Japanese population

The protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 22 (PTPN22) gene is a member of the PTPs that negatively regulate T-cell activation. A missense single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the PTPN22 gene known as R620W was recently reported to be associated with several autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The association was confirmed repeatedly in the populations of North European ancestry. However, the SNP was reported to be non-polymorphic in the Asian populations. Because the gene confers an impact on autoimmune diseases, we attempt to explore an association between PTPN22 gene and RA in a Japanese population without restricting to the SNP, R620W.

We studied 1128 RA patients and 455 controls. In addition to the SNP, R620W, we selected eight testing SNPs spanning 45 kb over the PTPN22 gene using the International HapMap Project. Genotyping was performed using the TaqMan fluorogenic 5' nuclease assay. Associations between RA and each of the SNPs were estimated by the Fisher's exact test. Haplotype was constructed using the expectation-maximization algorithm.

R620W was not polymorphic enough in both the patients and the controls, and was therefore excluded from further analysis. Each allele frequency for the eight other SNPs in both groups was compared and no association was detected. Haplotype analysis also revealed that PTPN22 gene was not associated with RA in a Japanese population.

We found no association between PTPN22 and RA in a Japanese population. The result suggests that the PTPN22 gene is associated with RA only in a specific ethnic group.